1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for locating personnel and/or events that cause localized temperature changes in a workspace. More particularly, the present disclosure is directed to improving the safety of workers by readily determining the location of the trapped/distressed worker(s) and the location of the worker(s) in relation to any threatening situation in a workspace such as a cave-in, fire, explosion, or flood.
2. Background of the Invention
Survival of workers trapped in a workspace often depends upon quickly locating the trapped workers and commencing rescue operations. For example, tragic deaths of trapped miners in West Virginia, Alabama, and other states in recent years has made it clear that the mining industry needs to solve the problem of locating personnel in the event a mine becomes compromised. Previous attempts to monitor the locations of miners in tunnels include equipping each miner with a locator/ID transmitter and placing sensors throughout the mine, in a method similar to a GPS system. This system is expensive and has not proven reliable or robust enough for a mine environment. Similarly, electronic systems, which are expensive, must be turned off in many cases due to the danger of explosions, thus precluding their use when they are needed the most. Likewise, mechanical systems can be destroyed in a catastrophe.
Current efforts to rescue trapped miners have been mostly limited to drilling a hole in the “best guess” method that relies on serendipity rather than science in the location of lost miners. A method for determining where in the tunnel system a fire, cave-in, or other danger exists in addition to determining the location of any trapped miners would allow determination of whether any trapped personnel are in immediate danger as well as letting rescue workers know exactly where to drill holes in order to provide air, communications and extraction of people more rapidly than the hit or miss methods employed to date.
Accordingly, an ongoing need exists for a cost-effective and reliable method and apparatus for rapidly and specifically locating trapped personnel and/or safety hazards (e.g., fire, explosion, flood, cave-in) in workspaces such as underground corridors.